Companies that use linear assets in the course of their commercial activities are required to implement a structured process to inspect those assets. One example of linear assets is a railway infrastructure. A railway infrastructure includes many miles of tracks over which trains travels. A component of the management operation includes inspecting the tracks and performing repairs when necessary. Currently, track inspections can be done either manually or with the assistance of automated measuring equipment to supplement the manual inspection. However, the results of those inspections are handled manually. Reports, which usually consist of paper forms that are hand filled by the inspector after the inspection is completed, are processed by supervisors or managers to ensure that an adequate follow-up is performed. A follow-up may include additional inspections to a potentially problematic track section, the imposition of temporary remedial actions to reduce the risks of incidents or the scheduling of corrective action.
When the railway infrastructure is extensive, it becomes difficult and tedious to manage the inspection process and any follow-up activities by relying on largely manual information flow systems.
Accordingly, there is a clear need in the industry to develop an automated approach to linear asset management, in particular to railway infrastructure management such as to improve the efficiency of operations.